Not to toss cold water over a pair of satisfying Ws, but it’s worth mentioning that if there are two teams in the Association that can make your offense run like a V-12 engine, they’re Golden State and Seattle. Too bad Washington isn’t scheduled for Tuesday. But there was a lot to like here:

• Corey Maggette had an efficient, almost quiet 27 point afternoon. This is considering that the offense hasn’t quite figured out how to get him the best looks it can. We saw a couple of cross-screens with Chris below the line, but that didn’t yield much. There was a quality give-n-go with Tim Thomas in the first quarter, at about the one minute mark:

Corey has the rock up top against Szczerbiak. Thomas steps out to receive the pass. Corey dishes it off, then sweeps behind Thomas, who scoops him the ball. Jeff Green can’t open up space quickly enough for Szczerbiak, so Corey has a nice clear path to the basket. And because Davis had set up around the weak side elbow, there wasn’t enough time for Robert Swift [that’s mean. Let’s just say for future reference…there wasn’t enough time for the big man] to help.

• Chris Kaman had a very nice defensive game. Chris Wilcox ate him up a little bit early, but Kaman got headier and headier as the game progressed and really sealed up the lane nicely against all comers in the second half. Favorite defensive moment at the 8:00 of the 4th:

Chris Wilcox is isolated against Kaman well off the left block. Wilcox holds it there. He shows a little pump fake. Wilcox is absolutely convinced that Kaman is going to bite on the fake, but Kaman doesn’t. Kaman does shift his weight a bit, so he still has some work to do when Wilcox puts the ball on the floor and begins driving baseline. But Kaman stays with him the whole play, recognizing that as long as Wilcox is unable to get off a shot with his right, there’s no way he can get a quality FGA out of the drive. Too far underneath, Wilcox ultimately puts up an awkward one-and-a-half-hander that Kaman gets a piece of. Kaman pulls down the leftovers and we go the other way.

A minute later, for good measure, he stuffs Szczerbiak on a drive with a scary left-handed swipe.

• Cuttino Mobley – Sixth Man of the Year Candidate.

It makes a lot of sense. With Sam starting at PG and Corey at the wing, Dunleavy needs Ross on the floor to either play the ball or the focal point of the opponent’s perimeter offense. And with Knight in the second unit, he also desperately needs someone in the backcourt who can shoot. Both units get someone who can play the ball; Mobley also works well with a small unit, because he can defend larger.

• Not that I’m breaking any news, but Kevin Durant is a matchup nightmare. At any given moment on the floor, he’s the most agile guy out there, the best shooter, the longest, and, like, the 3rd best ballhandler out of 10. He’s being exploited defensively on the screen/roll [but Tim Thomas has for years and still has a nice job], but once he learns how to fight through a pick, he’ll be more than adequate defensively. And though he’s still being occasionally outmuscled, it’s not like SFs have to defend the post anymore in this league.

Best unintentionally hilarious text message of the season [responding to the classic, “Are you guys at the game?” after an insane Durant fallaway jumper]:

We’re Over Here. Durant Sucks.

The Rust Belt trip this week should challenge the Clippers’ size/matchup issues much more profoundly. Schematically, you can pretty much get away with anything against Golden State and Seattle. They’re like that really unaffected aunt & uncle from your childhood – the ones you could cuss around and tell dirty jokes with. No matter how inappropriate you are, you never get punished.

Posted Wednesday, October 29 at 3:20PM

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nice to get that one and to keep strong through the 4th. Sure hope we can get 1 or 2 of these this week. I didn't see how Patterson was a problem for the Clips? but I was also dropping away to watch football at times.

A terrific question - where's James Singleton. Elsewhere. It seems Coach Dunleavy didn't "get" him so essentially he replaced him with Jason Powell. Of course Dunleavy didn't "get" Maggette either. Think that hurt us the last two years? He thought his son Junior was a better fit then Corey, no matter how much he now denies it. No matter his accomplishments before he got here he has yet to show me enough so that I "get" him.

Now he's playing fast break basketball not his first choice(apologies to the great Elton)so now Mr. Dunleavy is out of his comfort zone. Of course this is what an NBA coach is supposed to do - adjust to the talent he has not try to fit them in the formula he'd prefer if he had his drothers.

Hey - two exciting, terrific games for our Clippers - relax, only another eighty to go, these guys should be fun.

I was reading today's news and the Heat are really interested in picking up Brand. If there's a player that the Clippers need to make sure that we keep is Elton Brand. He is a stand up guy and he's a work horse...

I like how Dunleavy is managing everybody's playing time, because what's important to me is winning. I could careless if Cassell or Corey does not get his minutes. If there's a player that's hot right now, we need to keep going to him.

I realize that it's only 2 games and that's fine. The important that we win most of our home games and atleast be .500 away. Fans we are a very deep team, i mean we have Mobley & Patterson coming off the bench. But then again my opion is bias being a fan....

Chicago would have to get rid of Ben Wallace and his rather large salary if they were to be able to sign Brand next Summer. Plus, Ben Gordon and Luol Deng are both restricted free agents, and both turned down 5 years $50 million offers before the season.

It'll be interesting to see how Brand does when he comes back from the achilles injury..if his numbers are down (even slightly) he may opt to play the remainder of his max contract rather than test the market.